The National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region is sponsoring a workshop on Knowledge Management. Participants of this workshop must include a team consisting of a hospital librarian and a professional from another department in the same institution. The goal of the workshop is for each team to explore the potential of knowledge management in the hospital setting, and to develop and implement a program in each respective institution.

In addition to the April 16-17, 2009 workshop, there are required readings, two required online pre-workshop sessions and post-workshop communication sessions. These pre-workshop sessions will be held on March 9 and April 7 on Adobe Connect. The post-workshop sessions will be scheduled at a later date.

Cost of the workshop is $35: this includes one lunch and all break refreshments. This workshop is open to participants nation-wide; however preference will be given to members of the MidContinental Region. The first 2 teams of MidContinental Region network members accepted for the workshop will have their travel expenses paid. Those 2 teams will be responsible to attend all sessions and either present their project within 18 months of the session or publish their work in a MidContinental Region publication.

To apply for this workshop, go to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mU0l95vzMYPHKD8L1WY87A_3d_3d and complete the application form. Deadline for submission of applications is January 19, 2009. (bbj)

Christmas Holiday:

NLM will be closed December 25 and 26. MCR offices will be closed December 24, 25, and 26.

New Year’s Holiday:

NLM and MCR will be closed January 1.

We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Your RML staff is breathing a sigh of relief — the site visit team came, learned, and complimented us on the work we’ve been doing. The compliment certainly wouldn’t have been expressed without the cooperation and assistance of all of you in the region over the 2.5 years of the current contract or all of you who helped us facilitate the site visit day! We sincerely appreciate the tech people who worked with us over the past months to make sure that the technology worked, the individuals who hosted the public session, and those of you who shared your opinions with the team members either on the day of the site visit or via the questionnaire. It’s appropriate that during this week of Thanksgiving that we THANK YOU!

NLM will be closed Thursday, November 27. The MCR offices will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 27 and 28 for Thanksgiving. We wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

On November 19, 2008, you are invited to any of the Resource Libraries in the MidContinental Region to participate in a meeting with the NN/LM Site Visit Team. NLM organizes a visit to each region once every 5 years. The public session will run from 12:00 - 1:50 MT, 1:00 - 2:50 CT. Resource Libraries would like you to notify them, if you will be attending so that they can accommodate all who are joining the public session.

Jean Shipman, Director, will be facilitating a discussion in response to a list of questions. These questions will be distributed at the public session. Refreshments will be served and parking passes will be issued where needed.

The person to contact at each Resource Library, directions and the list of questions are available on the MCR’s site visit web site http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/nnlm_sitevisit.html On the menu at the top of the page, Click on Participation. We hope you’ll take the time to join us! /ch

The November 2008 issue of the Plains to Peaks Post, newsletter of the NN/LM MidContinental Region is now available online at http://nnlm.gov/mcr/services/comm/newsletter/PTPP_November_2008.pdf

In this issue:

The Site Visit Team is Coming to Town
I really enjoyed the Regional Advisory Board meeting
NN/LM MidContinental Region Advisory Board
Communicating Value
Three Ways to Inform Yourself
Benefits of Using the AAO Library
Nebraska Notebook
NLM BioMedical Informatics Course
Continuity of Health Information Award
It’s Good to Pick Up a Book

Today, November 4 -
is the final day for submitting feedback to the Site Visit Team, the RML, and NLM about how things are going in the MidContinental Region. We’ve already received many responses. Thanks to all who have contributed your appreciation for the work that we do and your thoughtful suggestions about what we could do differently! Especially if you can’t attend the public session on November 19, to talk to the site visit team directly; get your opinions considered by completing the questionnaire. There are a dozen questions that will take as many minutes or less to answer. The URL for the questionnaire is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VfkWUiHiVHJ9jJFLq1lgHg_3d_3d. The web site for details on the site visit is http://nnlm.gov/mcr/evaluation/nnlm_sitevisit.html /ch

NLM will be closed Tuesday, November 11 in observance of Veterans Day. The NN/LM MidContinental Region offices will be open.

Thank you to those who have completed the feedback questionnaire for the MCR Site Visit Team. We need more of you to submit your comments and opinions–hospital librarians, public librarians. Kansas and Nebraska are not represented in the feedback submitted to date. The site visit team wants to hear from you!

The data from this questionnaire will identify strengths of this RML’s programming and future directions it should take. It is a required activity for the upcoming site visit from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) on November 19. The purpose of the site visit is to help MCR and NLM understand how Network members are being served, learn how MCR can strengthen its program to meet current and emerging needs in the region, and gather ideas for how NLM can support the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

To access our feedback form, please click on the link below. You can answer as many questions as you want or provide other comments. We will be taking comments through November 4, 2008. /ch

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VfkWUiHiVHJ9jJFLq1lgHg_3d_3d

It’s October–that means it’s National Medical Librarians Month! NLM has collected and posted projects from around the country describing the innovative ways that health sciences librarians are serving their diverse populations of health care providers and consumers. Take a look at what your colleagues around the country are doing! Congratulations to Marie Reidelback and Marty Magee from McGoogan Library of Medicine, University of Nebraska; and Assako Holyoke and Gregg Clark from St. Louis University Medical Center Library who have their efforts in the MidContinental Region highlighted!/ch http://www.nlm.nih.gov/lo/profiles08/mcr.html